Answer this question truthfully
### Question: What are the symptoms of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?
### Response: Symptoms usually do not develop until after age 50, but they can start in younger people.
Persons with ALS have a loss of muscle strength and coordination that eventually gets worse and makes it impossible to do routine tasks such as going up steps, getting out of a chair, or swallowing.
Breathing or swallowing muscles may be the first muscles affected. As the disease gets worse, more muscle groups develop problems.
ALS does not affect the senses (sight, smell, taste, hearing, touch). It only rarely affects bladder or bowel function, or a person's ability to think or reason.
Symptoms include:
Difficulty breathing Difficulty swallowing Choking easily Drooling Gagging Head drop due to weakness of the neck muscles Muscle cramps Muscle contractions called fasciculations Muscle weakness that slowly gets worse Commonly involves one part of the body first, such as the arm or hand Eventually leads to difficulty lifting, climbing stairs, and walking Paralysis Speech problems, such as a slow or abnormal speech pattern (slurring of words) Voice changes, hoarseness Weight loss